Renegade Blog

In April 2014 our combined Youth and Adult Sambo team entered the USA Sambo Championships. I'm proud to say that Team Renegade is now home to another 5 national champions! Our team took home a combined 14 medals, 5 Gold, 5 Silver, and 4 Bronze. The level of competition was for the most part higher than the Arnolds in the previous month. Overall, it was an incredible day, and I'm just so proud of how hard the team trained and the results of the tournament!

My injury update and competition retirement

I decided to compete at the USA Sambo Championships even though my injured hip was becoming progressively worse. I won the USA Sambo open in 2013 (masters -100 Kg division), but I was mostly healthy then. I was somewhat able to get through training leading up to the tournament, but on the day of the event I was feeling awful. I could hardly stand without pain or warm up properly. All things considering, I did ok and won a few matches, winning Silver in the -100 Kg masters division and Bronze in the -100 Kg seniors division. I did the best I could do with the injury I had. it wasn't so much the pain, I can deal with that, but the inflammation in my hip was so severe I was losing strength and feeling in my leg, to the point that I could not even do a leg extension 2 times on my injured side with 30 lbs. I left this tournament with 2 medals, and with the feeling that is was time to retire from active competiton and that my best days were behind me. I had a good run, I won plenty of medals and awards including the US Sambo champion in 2013, and the british Sambo champion 2x (2010 and 2013). perhaps it's time for a new chapter in my life and to focus on teaching and coaching....time will tell.